The Endless War
by Polar Bear 084
Summary: Straight after leaving Laura and James, The Doctor runs into a Time Lord that he grew up & fought with in the Time War -The For- asking for help. But how did he escape the Time Lock and why is he acting as though the fight is still going on?  Second in the Horizon Series
1. The Impossible Ally

**A/N: Okay so I couldn't resist writing the first chapter :P But after this I really can't write anymore for awhile :( Please enjoy and let me know if you think it's worth continuing :D (I hope so :)) Thanks for reading.**

**Warning: This is a part of a series, "The Horizon" series and you might want to have read "Chime in the Night" first to get the over-all idea of the series. (It will become necessary later on in the series and this book... you have been warned :P)**

The Endless War

Chapter One: The Impossible Ally

"We'd just said goodbye to James and Laura," The Doctor said, flicking a couple of switches as he walked calmly around the console, "and then something tried to connect, to dock, with the TARDIS." I sat back in the chair, my hands in the pockets of my jeans.

"I remember, but who was it?" The Doctor looked up at me, a foolish grin stretched from ear to ear.

"Let's go find out."

* * *

><p>Amy and Rory were thrown off their feet, heads cracking against the floor, The Doctor only managing to keep his balance because he'd seen the warning and had time to brace himself. Now he was flicking and pulling every lever he could reach.<p>

"What was _that!_" Amy cried from the floor, pulling herself to her feet and hanging on for dear life.

"Something has detected us in flight and is trying to merge with our materialisation buffer!"

"What?"

"There is something trying to get on board now could you shut up Pond I'm trying to engage a thing!" Amy fell silent and watched the crazy man spin around the console, clinging onto the bars and then launching himself the the right button and then back again. "I don't understand," he muttered to himself, "no matter what I do this thing reacts, as though the systems are compatable."

And then the shaking stopped abruptly and they were all thrown to the floor. The Doctor was back on his feet in a flash and staring at the doors. First a click, and then a louder one as the doors were unlocked and opened from the outside. A shillouette appeared in the doorway, standing tall and proud. The Doctor raised his sonic, his voice coming out low and strong. "Get off my TARDIS."

There was a loud laugh, that seemed like a rumble of thunder, before a second voice spoke, "Your TARDIS? Don't make me laugh." The Doctor's stance faltered, and his expression changed to one of complete shock.

"No. That's impossible. For?"

The man stepped forwards, smiling broadly. He was as tall as The Doctor and was wearing a black jacket, a blue shirt beneath that and brown trousers that fell upon black trainers. Between his hands he was throwing a small metal ring, with blue indentations around its surface.

"Hello Doctor."

The Doctor seemed to freeze for a moment and then, gathering himself he leapt down the stairs and embraced the strange man. Amy and Rory looked on astounded. "You mad, fantastic, brilliant man!" He stepped back to look him over. "What regeneration is this? Five?" The man shook his head, slipping the ring upon his finger. "Six! Oh six yeah! Huh. Thought I recognized the jacket."

"And what about you Doctor," the man inquired, leaning against the doorframe where a strange landscape could be seen behind him, "what regeneration is this? Eight?" The Doctor shook his head solemly.

"Eleven." He knew he couldn't lie about that. The man laughed, the rumble of thunder echoing through the control room again.

"Eleven? You are getting clumsy in your old age. Tell me, how is the fight?" It was only now that Amy and Rory realized that they hadn't understood a word of what was being said between the two of them. Amy causously raised a hand.

"Um Doctor?" The Doctor seemed to slump, as though he hoped she wasn't going to reveal herself, but he regained himself as quickly as he could.

"Ah yes, sorry about not introducing you!" The Doctor said, speaking in English for the sake of the Ponds, "Amy & Rory Pond this is For, an old... friend of mine." The stranger man leapt upon the railings, standing on the edge of the console's platform, leaning over to inspect them.

Now that she could see him, Amy noticed that For was a young and smiling man, but that he seemed different to The Doctor. Where The Doctor was mad and strange, he looked like any old guy, a bit odd admittedly, but he didn't stick out like The Doctor did. For's expression changed suddenly, from s strange smile to an obvious horror. "Doctor these are humans!"

"I know For, let me explain-"

"But these are HUMANS!" For cried, still in English, rounding on The Doctor but he held his ground. "They cannot be allowed here old friend! You of all people should know that!" There was silence, and then For seemed to lock The Doctor with a strange look. "What are you hiding?"

The Doctor's face seemed to strain slightly and then For was knocked backwards, stumbling for apparently no reason. The Doctor spoke calmly. "Please For, don't try to pull the answers from me. We're friends." For looked around at Rory and Amy and began speaking Galifreyan again.

"Okay then Doctor why are they-"

"And you can speak in English please. Whatever you want to say to me you can say it to them as well." For seemed to take a moment to examine The Doctor before continuing in English.

"But these are Humans!" he said again, and again Amy spoke up, sarcasm dripping from her voice. She didn't like being ignored.

"Yeah thanks for that. We do have names you know!"

"But Doctor! You know humans are banned, outlawed! This war is beyond them! They were to have no knowledge of this tragedy!" The Doctor sighed.

"And what are we fighting to protect? Creation itself For! I'm sorry but I need friends, especially in this." He leant in, whispering in Galifreyan, "just last week, they saved me from an Epthatyle." Well it wasn't a complete lie.

For whipped around to look at the two of them again, both of whom were slowly advancing towards them. "_They _saved you?" Again in Galifreyan. The Doctor's face hardened.

"Yes _they,_" he muttered. "Don't start underestimating entire species For. That's a Darlek's mistake." He winced at his own words, knowing how harsh they were but he had to stop him asking questions. There was a lot more at stake here than he could possibly know, could be _allowed_ to know. For grinned, in almost the same way that The Doctor would sometimes, switching back to English.

"Haven't changed a bit have you?" The Doctor smiled back, shaking his head. "Good," For continued, clapping him on the shoulder's and closing the doors behind him, "because I need your help. I don't know which Universe I'm in but it doesn't really matter because no matter which one I find I get the same stories." The Doctor, Amy and Rory all closed in around him. The Doctor spoke, his voice low. Even though For didn't know he'd left the Time-Lock, his story must still have some relevence because he'd said no matter _what_ Universe. Any thing Mulitversally occuring needed investigating, especially if it had managed to affect the Time-Lock.

"What? What have you heard?"

For looked at the two humans, casting The Doctor a weary look before resolutely continuing, his voice grave. "It's Skaro, Doctor. It doesn't matter where I turn or when I look, it is always the same. Skaro has been reborn."

**A/N: Hope you liked it :D Please review even though it was so small... thanks for reading again :D I'll write more when I can :) (Could be a while... sorry about that :()**


	2. YANA All Over Again

**A/N: Oh all right here's the next chapter! :P But only if you promise to review! :P Please? I would really like to know your thoughts, especially about For as a character :) But after this I really cannot upload for awhile, so please enjoy and please review :D**

The Endless War

Chapter Two: Y.A.N.A. All Over Again

Doctor does he mean the _Darlek _Skaro?

_Yes he does. A Darlek Skaro, outside of the Time-Lock, although For wasn't to know that of course. But it did involve me having a private talk with the Ponds while he aquainted himself with my newer TARDIS._

"But what is going on?" Amy asked as The Doctor hurried her and Rory into their bedroom, and they parked themselves on the edge of their double bed. "You told me you were the last of your kind!"

"I am!" The Doctor replied, pacing up and down infront of them.

"Well who's that out there then? For the Fantastic Time Lord Impersonator?" The Doctor cracked the slightest of smiles, looking around at the bedroom, seeing the numerous pictures of the couple in hundreds of different landscapes.

"I've told you before of the Time-War, and how it was locked away from the rest of time." They both nodded, awaiting the rest of the tale. "I also told you that both sides lost, that I was the only survivor... Well, me and _them_." The Doctor receeded into his ancient memory, his face falling into a blank mask. Rory took the opportunity to ask a question.

"But if you're the only survivor then," he looked back out of the door, at the other man with two hearts that was inspecting and exploring the TARDIS, "what does he mean then?"

The Doctor was dragged back to the present, away from the day he lost everything, and the year he gained nothing. "He means that there is something wrong with the lock that is keeping that war from the rest of the Universe and _that_ means," The Doctor turned to them, "that we might all be in _big_ trouble."

Amy seemed to awkwardly fidget on the edge of the bed. "But," she began, before falling silent and atarting again. "But you told me about Skaro. You said that it was a dead planet, that it had broken apart because of the Darleks, that it had once been their home-world. But if it is back... does that mean they are too?"

"I guess we need to find that out Amelia Pond," The Doctor said, clapping his hands together, turning towards the door and flinging it open. "Maybe it will hold clues to what has happened to the Time-Lock?" He stepped back outside and strode down to the control room, thinking that maybe it would also hold clues to what the Epthatyle had meant by "over the horizons of the Universe," seeing as that was completely ridiculous and utterly impossible.

When they reached the main control room, having walked the entire way in complete silence, they found For lying in The Doctor's cloth chair that hung below the console, admiring The Doctor's handy-work. One leg was on the chair with him while the other hung off, and one of his hands lay on his chest, the other buried in the masses of wires above him. "You know... normally I would have something to say about all this, but for once I can't find anything. I'm impressed."

The Doctor laughed as he decended the stairs, Amy and Rory causously following behind. "That's a first, you always were the first to pick apart my beloved tinkerings." He sounded a little smug. Amy and Rory smiled.

"Oh no... wait. Yep the Frictal valve should be connected to the Dican _buffer _not the Dican matrix." The Doctor rolled his eyes, attending to the TARDIS' console, flicking numerous buttons and levers until they heard a loud clunk from outside. "Doctor!" The For cried as he bolted up the stairs and started flicking switches himself, "Why are we leaving my TARDIS behind?"

"Don't!" The Doctor warned, and For immediately stopped. "Look." He activated the scanner and watched the three of them gathering around quickly.

On the scanner they could see four Darleks, four old Darleks. They were the smaller, gold and brownish versions, nothing like what The Doctor had seen them 'evolve' into the last time they'd met at the height of World War Two. It was both a relief and a worry, at least they weren't as powerful as their newer counterparts, but it also reinforced just how weak the Time-Lock seemed to have become. The everlasting Lock. Why was it that 'everlasting' never seemed to be as... well, ever-lasting as it suggested?

"What are they!" Rory asked, as he saw them swarming around what seemed like a small space station. "And what is that?"

The For smiled, and The Doctor internally praised the fact that at least For _liked_ humans. "They are the Darleks and _that_ is _my_ TARDIS. Type 44 if you don't mind." The Doctor grimaced.

"You could never help showing off could you? And what is so wrong with my TARDIS? She's brilliant if you ask me." He ducked under Rory's arm and continued to attend to the console. For looked at The Doctor and began to work on the opposite side of the console to him.

"Need a hand?" The Doctor grinned at him and went faster, as though racing his friend to the finish line. They flipped buttons and pressed everything within reach, and at one point For was holding down two buttons already and was having to use his foot to flip the final one.

Eventually The Doctor cried, "A-nd done!"

"Done!" For replied. Amy looked from one Time-Lord to the other, both of whom were breathing heavily, smiling at each other across the console.

"Done what?" The Doctor answered first.

"Well you see Pond what I've just done is inverted the Lupetron matrix, fired the Dican buffer and then done some incredibly complicated and frankly brilliant temporal work so that For here, is now over there," he said, jerking his thumb in the general direction of For's TARDIS. Looking around Amy realized he was right, For wasn't there anymore. "And he, well take a look." Amy looked back at the scanner and saw that it was completely empty. There was nothing, except distant stars and space dust.

"Um, what did he do then?" Rory asked, as he'd seen something happen but he still couldn't quite figure out what that was.

"He distracted the Darleks and took them with him in the Time Vortex. He'll send up a message when he's ready for us to follow. I also attached a permanent lock on his TARDIS' signature, so we can follow no matter where or when he goes within this Universe. Aren't I brilliant?"

"Oh yeah Doctor. Although For seems to give you a run for your money." Amy said, smiling at him. The Doctor laughed.

"Oh For was definitely the better a school but who wants to be good at school? That's _SO_ boring!" Amy and Rory exchanged a furtive look, smiling descreetly. "Oh don't be like that Amelia Pond, I saw your school records." The Doctor said dismissively, "I didn't know that they gave lessons in the headmasters office... or atleast they didn't when I last taught..." The Doctor trailed off remembering thoughts of another life. Rory was surprised.

"_You_ taught? In a school?" The Doctor grinned.

"Yes of course I did! Although there were some bat-like people, Krillitanes... and the Skasis Paradigm... nearly... but still I could have swore I taught in a classroom." Amy grimaced at him.

"Shut-up you," she said pointing threateningly at him, but smiling at the same time. "I'm getting a sense of jealousy here, aren't you Rory?" He went to say that he didn't really think so but there was a _ping_ from the scanner, and The Doctor dragged it around to look at it.

"Okay, lesson over Ponds! We're on our way!" The Doctor dramatically pushed the lever forwards and the TARDIS soared into life, shaking and rocking as always.

"Where are we going!" Amy shouted, calling over the noise and The Doctor's enthused control of the TARDIS.

"We're heading to meet For again! For some reason he's in the year 5.5/Apple/26, the year the Earth died! I'll take a guess at what he did to the Darleks!"

"But that's barbaric!" Amy cried, gripping onto the console to stare at The Doctor. He seemed to not want to answer, but then he eventually looked up to answer although unable to look her in the eye.

"That's war. You do what you can to survive." The next moment the TARDIS came to a sudden halt and the scanner crackled into life.

"Doctor!" a voice whispered urgently, the picture unable to focus. "Doctor I've got to come back aboard! I've disposed of three of their little scout party, but we need to follow the fourth and they already know about my TARDIS. Your's isn't so well known."

"Not yet anyway," the Doctor muttered.

"What was that Doctor? We haven't got much time!" The Doctor grinned and flipped four switches, twisted the vortex manipulator and pressed a finger to his lips as For reappeared on the TARDIS. "Come on Doctor, we have to follow it!" he whispered franticly, bent over an invisible communicator. The Doctor cleared his throat and For turned around embaressed. "Oh very funny Doctor! you've been waiting to do that for centuries haven't you?"

"Possibly," The Doctor admitted, grinning as he sent the TARDIS into the Time-Vortex again, following the only remaining Darlek as it phased away. "Right, cloaking the TARDIS," he said as he moved around the console again, murmering to For as he passed, "something they removed from the 44 if I remember?"

"Yeah!" For cried, staring incrdulously at The Doctor as he continued working away, "because the moment you touched it it would shimmer and _then _there was the fact that you could never find the thing! Seriously, the chameleon curcuit is good enough if you would just fix the thing-"

"Boys!" Amy cried, just as The Doctor was about to respond and both of them stood in complete silence, looking at Amy with open mouths. "Thank you!" The Doctor took a moment to enjoy For's apparently unusual silence and then tried again.

"I'm guessing you made it look like you perished as well as the Darleks?" For nodded.

"I hid her in the final seconds before the sun expanded, literally. Repit Loop, a new addition for my model I think you'll find." Amy threw him a dangerous look and he nodded slightly and fell silent again. Just then the TARDIS stopped, without the squeeling and whining as The Doctor had at least decided to use the handbrake this time.

_Why they put a handbrake on her I do not know! Type 40's were explorational and they made them safe? When have you ever heard of a _safe _and_ fun _exploration? Safe is really really dull._

I'll keep that in mind. Which rule would that be then?

_Oh rule two easily._

Anyway, The Doctor looked at For smiling. He rose an eyebrow. "Now wait, I was there for your driving test. Are you sure we've landed _safely_ for a change?"

"Yes of course we have!" The Doctor said, seemingly offended he would even have to ask. He began to stride towards the front doors, while Amy and Rory leaned closer to The For, Rory asking the obvious question.

"He took a driving test?" For's grin grew, as he whispered back.

"I know, you wouldn't think it would you? I remember that he kept his examiner waiting four years, only to materialize in the middle of his son's wedding! Yeah, you might say he failed that one."

"Oi" The Doctor called, his hand grasping the door handle. "That's enough about my driving skills. I'll have you know that I passed with flying colours the second time around and I can assure you that we are absolutely, one hundred percent, safe!" He opened the door, to the sounds of Darlek energy weapons and innumerous cries of "Exterminate!" He quickly shut the door, the sounds immediately cutting off.

Slowly he turned around to the others and smilied weakly. "Ah. Okay. We may have a problem."

**A/N: So what did you think? Please review :D And again if you haven't please read Chime in the Night as it is the precursor to this one, which I also hope you'll like :D Thanks for reading :)**


	3. An Unplanned Farewell

**A/N: Hello! Sorry this took so long... school work and that :S Well I couldn't help it, I love writing too much so here is the next chapter! :D I just can't stop I love writing, especially for The Doctor! He's a great character :) But I always write for my girlfriend :) All my work on here is dedicated to her, and it always will be :) (Sorry for that... can't help myself :)) Please give me some feedback everyone n o matter what it is :) I'd would love to hear your views on anything that you want to say :) Enjoy :D**

The Endless War

Chapter Three: An Unplanned Farewell

The Doctor and For were suddenly in motion, rushing to the console and speaking at hyperspeed. "Okay, options?" The Doctor cried, flipping switches anyway.

"Um weapons!" For replied, starting to attack everything button within reach as well.

"We don't have weapons!" The Doctor replied, astounded.

"Sheilds!"

"OR shields!" For stopped completely, staring at The Doctor.

"No shields?"

"No, no shields!" The Doctor snapped, continuing to whirl around the console.

"You've survived this long with no shields" The For murmured, astounded. Rory coughed to cut inbetween them.

"But if we have no shields... Shouldn't we be damaged right now?" Both Time-Lords stopped dead, looking around them. Rory took advantage of the silence to carry on, sharing a slightly astounded smile with Amy. "You mean, neither of you thought to check if they were shooting at _us_?" For shifted slightly.

"Be fair, when have they ever shot at anything else?" The Doctor however was running back to the door, putting his ear against it and closing his eyes as he listened.

"A civil war? That's only happened once before... why now?" For walked up behind The Doctor and spoke quietly to him, Amy and Rory close behind. He spoke in Gallifreyan again.

"Doctor," he urged, "don't you think we should take these two home? I can't allow humans to be put in so much danger, no matter how astounding they are." When The Doctor didn't respond he continued, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Please Doctor... this isn't their war."

He sighed greatly, before pulling away from the doors and facing his two greatest companions. He spoke in English for their sake. "You're right For. You're right."

Amy frowned, clenching Rory's hand tightly under the scrutiny of the two Time-Lords. "Right? Right about what?"

"You two," said The Doctor, indicating them and attempting a smile. "For once this is too far for the two of you. I'm taking you home."

Amy was incredulous. "We've saved your life, and been with you for so long, through so much! And now you want to drop us off at home as if-"

"This is not your war!" He shouted, glaring at the both of them. "You two are in far too much danger here, now you will listen and keep yourselves safe! Now that we know that Skaro is inhabited and in the middle of a civil war I cannot allow you to stay! These Darleks are not like the others we saw Amy. They have no plan, no grand scheme, no reason to keep anyone alive! These are ruthless and they will shoot on sight! Please... You have to go home... for River's sake. For mine." They both looked at the ground, unable to think of anything to say to that. The Doctor strode past them and initiated the TARDIS again, silently disappearing into the vortex, the co-ordinates for Skaro firmly locked in for their return trip.

* * *

><p>The goodbye was awkward. Rory didn't want to go but could see what The Doctor was saying, whereas Amy refused to move, crossing her arms and leaning against the TARDIS console, until The Doctor promised he would come back, which of course he had said he'd always intended to. But the quick and easy reply set Amy on edge. She hadn't been expecting it.<p>

Eventually they were ready to leave, and after a quick hug with Amy and a handshake with Rory, they left the TARDIS, after The Doctor had promised for the hundreth time that he would be back within the hour and For had chipped in that he would make _sure_ it was an hour. After that the return trip was a lot quieter, and For had to pilot the TARDIS as The Doctor just wasn't up for it.

Was it really necessary to leave them behind again?

_Yes... it was. These Darleks weren't like any of the others we'd seen, because those were plotting to become great again. These already were. With everything to lose this was the most ruthless they ever were. The Darlek Emperium, death itself. Trust me, they wanted to miss this one out._

Good point, well made. Onwards?

_Onwards._

This time For chose a more discreet landing area, scanning the zone quickly and choosing the spot with the least laser fire. Turns out, when he went to check outside, that they'd landed in the Darlek version of a warehouse. It was entirely empty, although the walls and ceiling were charred and burnt from the fight raging outside. He tunred to look back inside, where The Doctor was just beginning to lope towards the door. "Why would the _Darleks_ fight a civil war? They're all identical, how could they find any difference to fight about?"

"Mutations can spread," The Doctor murmered quietly. "One mutates and soon you have a whole leigion of rouge Darleks on your doorstep."

"Atleast they'll be distracted." For stepped from the TARDIS and span round on the spot, his fingers nervously twidling the blue-indentated ring on his finger. He waited for The Doctor to close and lock the door before speaking again, whispering as they causously headed for the wall of the warehouse. "You don't think it was the recreation of Skaro that mutated them do you?"

"I think," The Doctor murmered, peeking around the charred hole in a broken mechanical door, just across from the TARDIS, "_that _is what we need to find out." He ducked through the hole and found himself in an equally charred corridor, snapped wires and exploded caskets hanging from the walls. "Where do you think we should go?"

"Um," For murmured as he creeped along beside The Doctor, the air now deathly silent. "There must be some sort of record bank or data... source somewhere around here."

"What makes you say that?" The Doctor whispered accusingly.

"They're Darleks. You could tell this was their command center from a mile off. Big, domed and bronze. They never change..."

"Unless they mutate that is." For laughed quietly, holding up his hand and sweeping it around the area. The Doctor remembered that he wasn't supposed to know what was on his finger according to his time stream. "What's that?"

For seemed to freeze, mid-sweep. "What's what?" The Doctor could hear the smile in his voice, he'd been wanting to talk about this for ages. He pointed wordlessly at the ring on For's third finger and he almost heard The For's smile grow. "Oh that!" He said, mock surprise thick and heavy in his voice. "It's a sonic ring."

The Doctor remembered how he had reacted the last time... the _first_ time For had told him about it and saw that it was entirely reasonable. "What? A sonic _ring?_" Then he burst out laughing, leaning against the wall and clutching at his stomach as roll after roll of laughter escaped him. For soon joined in and both Time-Lords found themselves sitting against the wall, the last laughs being heaved from their chests.

"Well, bonding the technology completely within pecromium metal allows for a cleaner transmisson, and it's a _lot_ harder for me to lose mine. How many times have you lost your screwdriver?" The Doctor smiled at the ground, holding one hand in the other with his arms resting on his bent knees.

"306." For laughed. "And that's only this one," The Doctor admitted, pulling the screwdriver from his pocket and flipping it through the air to catch it in his other hand. "Who knows how many times I've lost the others..."

For held out his hand, asking for the screwdriver, and The Doctor dropped it into his waiting palm. "You know I still can't believe that you made this in _our_ room when you could have been revising for the test that was happening in two hours time, or atleast being aware of the messages that _she_ was attempting to get to you by throwing them in through our window so they would land on The Master's head."

"Yeah well I thought he was just being him, and I passed that test didn't I?" For chuckled again, waving the screwdriver and checking out the settings before handing it back. The Doctor put the device back in his inside pocket. There was an almighty _Bang!_ which had The Doctor and For on their feet in seconds, both back to back and scanning the area quickly.

"Someone just blew up a remedine repository," The Doctor muttered, his voice flowing fast.

"Yeah 12 miles North of here," For replied, his own voice just as quick. "Always a race with you isn't it?"

"Yep," The Doctor replied, continuing to hold the screwdriver before him and proceeding down the corridor, taking the first left he could find, "keeps things interesting."

For stode alongside him and then whispered, "Right then, the data-back/record-source, I say it's this way," he said, pointing towards the first door on their right. He headed towards it and placed his ring against the domed switch on the wall. The doors slid open slowly, and slowly but surely, the room beyond was shown, as dark and broken as the corridor they stood in, burn marks and scars littering the floors, ceilings and walls, not that much of the room could be seen.

That was because, standing in the doorway was a strange and unnatural shape. It had a many sided bottom half, covered in bumps, that seemed to meld into a cylindrical top half, with grooves and vents residing just below a bronze domed top. Protuding from this top was a long mechanical eyestalk and from the mid-section, a manipulator arm (looking a lot like a kitchen plunger) and a very sinister looking gun. Both The Doctor and For froze as they realized what it was. It spoke slowly, its voice warped and broken, like a man who'd gone mad.

"Ex-ter-min-ATE!"

**A/N: What do you think? :) Please let me know, no matter what you have to say Hopefully it won't take too long for the next chapter... I promise I'll try my best :) Thank for Reading :D Please Review :)**


	4. Fight, Fight and Fight Again

**A/N:** **Sorry this took me sooo long to upload, school work and that :S But here it is, the next chapter :D I** **hope it was worth the wait. Please review :)**

The Endless War

Chapter Four: Fight, Fight and Fight Again

"Run!" For cried, but he didn't need to, they were both pelting away from the room, dodging chunks of debris and sparking wires until they found a turn and dived around the corner. They stood, backs flat against the cold steel wall, The Doctor holding the screwdriver tightly in both hands.

There they stood for a moment or two, ears straining for any sign of their enemy, but when they heard none, they exchanged quizical looks. "Is it just me," For whispered, "or is there a distinct lack of danger in this situation?" The Doctor peeked slowly around the corner to find it only harboring broken slabs of metal and stone.

"Thought I didn't like it," he whispered back, grinning as he began to creep back down the empty hallway. Setting his screwdriver to the lowest setting he scanned ahead, a confused look falling upon his features. Slowly, the Darlek in the doorway came into view and he saw why it had registered no life signs.

Now that they were looking at it from the side, they could see that the back of its shell had been completely blown apart. As The Doctor squeezed past the shell he saw the that the sickening creature, the real Darlek (made from mutated Kaled cells), was now dead having lost all life-support and at least half of its living body. The Doctor placed the screwdriver back into his pocket. "Those must have been its final words. Even in death they'll never change."

For was confused at The Doctor's solemn voice. "Are you, feeling empathy for a Darlek?"

The Doctor looked at his friend, and saw the hatred burning in his eyes. He used to be like that, so full of hatred, but even he couldn't wish _this_ upon anything. Empathy, however, may be taking it a bit too far. "Oh no. Just, sickening to see that's all." For looked sceptical, but he didn't press the point, instead running his ring across the casing. His eyebrow rose.

"This casing is new," he muttered, "brand new. Like it's literally just been made." The Doctor was looking around the room, finding it completely bare except for one wall-mounted screen above another domed switch. He strode of to it while For began to scan the remains, wrinking his nose. "Now this is interesting."

"What?" The Doctor replied, sonicing the switch continuously while the screen flickered and sparked into life. "What is it?"

"It's this body," For replied, scanning the body again. "It's _old_. The casing is new, I'd say barely a day out of a factory but the body... it's atleast two-hundred years old."

The Doctor stopped sonicing and turned to look a For, his face clearly worried. "A Darlek that's lived for two-hundred years? Their mutated counterparts must be using temporal technology. This could get complicated."

"Can Darleks use time-travel?" The Doctor was surprised. It must be very early in the war for him if they hadn't started using time-travel yet. He remembered when it had begun, barely six decades into the war. Of course then they had given it to their younger selves and re-written it all. That was how the endless war had begun. Fights would be fought and won by one side, only to have the other side go back and re-write it their favour, and again and again. So many of his friends had died before his eyes, so many times. The age old anger flared within his hearts.

"Oh they can," he muttered darkly. "We have to get back to the TARDIS," he began to walk to the door, barred by the dead Darlek. "If we can get to your's we can return before this war began and iniciate a temporal field. No more time travel." For was still staring at the screen, and when The Doctor turned around he saw that his eyes were wide and his jaw was dropped in horror.

"You'll have a job," his voice come out low and cracked. On the screen there were eight Darleks surrounding the spot where the TARDIS stood, but facing outwards, their weapons trained everywhere away from as if guarding it. The Doctor walked up to the screen and then slapped his hand against the wall next to it.

"Of course! They'll be on the look out for temporal energy and we just gave them the largest pool of the vortex this side of the time-stream!" For looked on as his friend hit his head aginst the cool wall.

"At least you cloaked it," he said calmly. "They have no idea what it is, they just know that it is powerful and that whoever owns it isn't there. They're waiting for him." The Doctor wasn't exactly reassured by that.

He turned around and headed for the other door that lead into another corridor, this one much larger and made of ice-cold stone. There was a slit that ran along the wall, as wide as he was tall, that showed an entirely barren landscape. There were scorch marks varying from miniscule prinpricks to building sized craters and in the distance, pitch-black smoke could be seen, spiralling up into a red sky coated with sickening green clouds of smog. "We need to find their data-core," he said solemly, looking at For as he stared at the landscape. The Doctor suddenly remembered that _he _had never seen Skaro. "We have to find out everything about what happened."

"But we can't let them to continue to use time-travel either," For muttered. "They know someone is here and with time-travel this could get complicated." He looked at The Doctor's older face, wondering just how old he must be. He seemed so much older than he had been the last time they'd met. "One of us is going to have to go and investigate..." before he could react The Doctor was off, running down the corridor and stopping as he reached a large sliding door, sonic in hand.

"I'll see you later!" he shouted down the hall, seeing For shaking his head in disbelief. It was a strange friendship, sometimes it would feel like he was looking after For, and others it would feel like he was the one that needed caring for.

"Oh but Doctor," For called back, raising and dropping his arms in a defeated gesture, "records are no fun!" The Doctor had finished opening the door and now pointed his sonic at his friend speaking into the side of his screwdriver, his voice coming from the ring on For's finger.

"Have fun! I'll see you later!" For saw his friend grin in a way that was so very recognizable and then duck through the crack in the door, which closed behind him.

**A/N: There you are :) Both alone in the Darlek stronghold, nothing could possibly go wrong ;) Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon :D Wish me luck and please review! :)**


	5. Seperate Ways

**A/N: Hello Again! New chapter, which I hope you'll like :) Oh and a Massive thank you to AngelsOnTheMoon98 for recommending me on her story :D If you haven't heard of her then I suggest you go and read her story "The Day I Met The Doctor" because it is really really good :) I seriously cannot recommend enough :) Thanks also to those who are following/favouriting this story too and I hope it lives up to your expectations :) Enjoy!**

The Endless War

Chapter Five: Seperate Ways

The Doctor heard the door clang shut, For's sarcastic "Keep in touch!" and then he was on his own. He pocketed his sonic and brushed the hair out of his eyes, looking around at the completely identical corridor. He shook his head.

_Do you have any idea how difficult it is to navigate a place that is entirely the same? They may as well have just made it a maze, at least it would have been more fun._

Actually I _do_ know how that feels. Remember Sido-faltoy? Every single room was the same shape and size to the nearest centimeter. Every corridor and reception room, every street and every road was exactly the same. The Deja-vu was a killer.

_Yeah. It certainly made finding the Ravenous Beast of Drakelor very difficult. But who would have guessed that it was going to be _that _small?_

Or _that_ docile? I'd imagined three heads, long teeth or atleast an appetite. It was just scared and alone... Anyway-

The Doctor continued to creep down the corridor, slowly relaxing with each step, until he ended up walking clamly, as though this was any other planet and not the homeworld of heartless killers. Atleast they were distracted fighting a civil war, it was much easier to sneak about then.

As he walked he began to think about two questions; One, how badly did Skaro and For's re-appearence affect the Time-Lock or how badly did their reappearence _mean_ it was affected? And two, how was he going to return them both to the Time-Lock without them obtaining fore-knowledge and without shattering the rest of the Time-Lock in the process?

Surprisingly, he noticed, as he soniced his way through a door to find himself in a very spacious lift, Skaro was going to be the easier of the two to return. Skaro didn't know him. Skaro wasn't suspicious of his actions. Skaro, was going to be betrayed be his best friend. _Again._

The lift began to descend, the red light from the broken landscape slowly disappearing as The Doctor was lowered into the depths.

_Okay scene change Alex. I was able to obtain fragments of what happened to For at this point from his ring. It's not entirely complete, I know that a couple of bits were filled in by the subconcious parts of my mind but it was the best I could do._

Well why not get it from For himself?

_... _

Okay. Sorry. As the door shut, a smile spread across For's face. "Keep in touch!" He heard a slight, murmered laugh and then nothing. He was on his own. Still, he liked it better that way although seeing The Doctor again was certainly a good, if unexpected, event.

He'd changed so much since they'd met last, five more times in-fact, and yet it was still the same Doctor in there. The same guy who used to joke about their next exam until the minutes before-hand and yet _still_ pass it, the same guy who, for a bet, had snuck into the Grand High-Councilor's chambers and created a tele-field around the door so that instead of walking into his chambers after a long day governing the laws of time, he found himself suddenly in a cave towards the top of Rassilion's Peak (the tallest mountain on Gallifrey).

But the man was different too. Older, wiser. He even seemed serious, something that he'd never expected, but that was what war did he supposed. With a shrug he ducked back into the room with the dead Darlek and walked over to the screen again. Maybe, if he just tweeked it enough...

"Bingo," he muttered as the screen stopped showing the surveilence pictures and instead changed to a menu-type screen. "I'll have the layout, thank you garcon," he chuckled to himself as a complex diagram, full of strange letters and many numbers fazed into view. He stared intently for a moment before a voice sounded, crackling through the air.

"For, have you got _any_ idea where I should be going?" His lip curled.

"Not lost are we Doctor?"

"Nope," came back in nonchalant reply. "No, I just thought I'd... ask what you think for a change?"

"Very thoughtful of you," For laughed. "Since _you're_ the one who's looking anything temporal I'd head for... what I think is their reseach lab? It might not be, it could be their shooting range... my Skaronian's a bit rusty."

"Why? Isn't it translating?"

For sighed, his eyebrow's furrowed. "Yeah it is, but it's translating weird. You know what Darleks are like, I never could understand anything they said. I guess you'll just have to find out when you get there. Have fun!"

He heard The Doctor's laugh sweep about the room. "Yeah it sounds like I'll have a great time. Thanks anyway For." For took a second long look at the map and then, sonicing it dead, he left the room past the decapitated Darlek and down the corridor, turning round the corner he and The Doctor had hid behind earlier.

He found himself in yet another corridor, this one extremely long and flooded with that weird red light. He crept along it quietly, his thumb anxiously rubbing his ring. It wasn't just a sonic to him... it was a lot more than that. _She'd_ given it to him, The Protector. The Doctor's rejection had left her with a lot of time to grow fond of her home, of her rather dysfunctional family. She would do anything to keep them safe, and For was now a part of that family. What she would think if she saw him here, in the enemy stronghold...

He shook himself back to the present. It was nice to know that she was home on Gallifrey. Safe. Happy. Slits in the walls on either side of him showed him the eeriely quiet landscape and allowed a strange wind to howl through the passageway, forcing his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and keeping his shoulder's hunched. Looking out he could tell he was walking across some kind of walkway, at least 50 feet off the ground and far below he could see prinpricks, the thousands of dead shells that lay strewn across the acrid landscape.

It was strange, he could clearly see a hole in each and every casing, as though whatever attacked them, did it from... above. That was when he heard it, a voice deeper and more broken than any he'd heard so far, speaking slowly and gradually getting faster in its hatred.

"Lifeform detected, none Darlek origin. Widest beam, maximum Extermination! Exterminate!" The walkway just to the right of For exploded but he was already running, his right hand twisting and pressing the blue indentations of his ring. "Exterminate!" _Bang!_ Again the section just behind him was obliterated. He had atleast 20 meters to go but would that be too far?

"Exterminate!" _Bang!_ "Exterminate!" _Bang! _"EXTERMINATE!" For was just a few feet from the entrance when he saw the floor before him evaporate. He leapt, the floor he was just standing on beginning to fall, arms stretching to reach his destination. He landed in the opening, rolled and then threw himself to one side, finally finding the right setting on his ring. It was now creating a field around his body that told any nearby instruments there was nothing there, except dust of course.

He knelt there, attempting to not breathe at all, which is harder than you think when you have not one, but _two_ hearts hammering against your ribcage. He felt that the Darlek was close, in the opening, and was scanning for him. He held his breath.

Eventually after what seemed like an age, he heard it back away and leave. He peeked around the opening to see why it had sounded different and discovered that it was bigger than the usual Darlek, and it was _blue?_ For turned around and headed down the corridor as fast as he could, not disengaging the field around himself.

What For didn't know was that that Darlek had a lot more significance than he'd given it. This _blue_ Darlek... was a Strategist. There was no way it would let its prey escape it without some form, of a plan.

* * *

><p>The Doctor laughed and placed the sonic back in his pocket, but his mind was now full of a new worry. Why wasn't the language translating properly? The only other time he'd experienced that was... a long time ago, upon an impossible planet.<p>

But that certainly wasn't the problem this time so... what was it? He could only deduce that it was the great amounts of time travel that seemed to be going on, but if that was the case he should be feeling weird himself. He pushed it to the back of his mind. "One thing at a time Doctor," he told himself. "Time-travel abilites first, and then you can worry about everything else on the shopping list. The shopping list that takes up three pieces of cut up cereal box, two pieces of tissue _and_ one of those brilliant little post-it-note thingies."

After the lift doors had opened he'd found himself in a pitch-black corridor, and he guessed he was about 20ish feet below ground. He'd stepped out of the lift, sonic lighting the way and had begun down the dank and completely silent tunnel. That was where he was now, slowly but surely edging his way through a completely empty tunnel. There weren't even any pipes running along the ceiling meaning that this could only be one thing.

His suspicions were certifed a few moments later, when he had to throw himself to the floor to avoid being either found or knocked over by a Darlek that was racing through the tunnel. "Why a transport system?" He muttered darkly as he picked himself up. "Why must I always find myself in some kind of underground transport system?"

A long while, and quite a few bumps and scrapes later, he found a light up ahead. He ran towards it, discovering it to be pulsating from a switch on the wall exactly like the one he'd found earlier. He used the sonic upon it and the words "research laboratory" but it turned out For was right. The words seemed to phaze in and out of focus, going from one language to the next in a rather nauseating fashion. just as he was attempting to find out what was causing it he heard something coming back down the tunnel, so he soniced it again and hurled himself through the sliding doors, allowing them to shut neatly behind him.

The Doctor pulled himself to his feet and activated the sonic, pointing it high in the air. Lights switched on throughout the room and he nearly ran back out at what he found.

**A/N: What did he find in the Darlek Research Lab that could be so bad that even The Doctor couldn't bear to see it? Please Review and I'll let you know :)**


	6. Unbearable

**A/N: Hello! Sorry I didn't upload yesterday, was out on a trip with the family! It was quite good actually :D Anyway, next chapter! You might be disappointed as to the description of what was in that room... but hopefully you'll like it enough to review! :D Please? :) Enjoy!**

The Endless War

Chapter Six: Unbearable

"No! That's impossible!" The Doctor stood with his back flat against the door, attempting to take in every detail of the horrific picture that stood before him, but every fibre of his body wanted to do anything but that.

The entire floor of the huge laboratory had shattered from the center as though something had grown out of the ground beneath it and the same had occurred on the ceiling, growing down from the ground above. Growing out of these gigantic cracks were two long cylinders, and from what seemed to be a console base, wires sprawled like vines into huge databases that lined the walls.

Between the two cylinders, lines of crackling red electricity could be seen to spark and then fade away, but there was always at least one connecting the two. The Doctor soniced the door behind him instinctively and fell backwards onto the cold stone floor, sonicing the door closed from the ground. He stood back up franticly and raced away from the room, knowing that their communication link wouldn't so close to that thing.

There was only one person he knew who could manage that, and if _he _was here, back and in league with the Darleks again, he would most certainly need For's help. For was the only other person who knew him well, and The Doctor knew he would most certainly need his help.

* * *

><p>For eventually came to a halt when the corridor finally came to a corner and he was able to throw himself around it and into the nearest door. He rested his head back against the cool metal of the door, counting to ten before opening the door again and attempting to figure out where he was. He deactivated the field around himself and whispered into the ring "Doctor! Doctor, can you hear me?" When he didn't get a reply he decided that he should just try to find the database and worry about reaching The Doctor then.<p>

He licked a finger, held it in the air and then span around striding purposefully to a set of large double doors that he descreetly soniced open. He found himself exactly where he thought he was. The room was full of what looked like huge green bookshelves, spaced far enough away from each other so that a Darlek could just fit between them and of course, this being a Darlek library, there was only one control panel and it was guarded.

For waited for a moment, activated the field and dived into the room, rolling across the floor so that he came to a stop just behind the closest huge storagebank, moving forwards slowly and quietly. He heard the Darlek's eyestalk swivel round and he froze, planning fervently. He just needed some form of distraction.

He sat there, eyes snapping about the room searching for anything when there was a loud cascading blaring that sounded throughout the compound. For brought his hands up to his ears, shrinking back against the opposite wall it was so painful, but luckily the Darlek was already leaving, eyestalk swiviling left and right, looking for the intruder. When the door shut For whispered, "Thank you Doctor"and hurried over to the console.

Holding his ring to the console, he quickly deactivated the irritating alarm and set about sifting through their records, pushing deeper and deeper into their past, even finding Davros' person files, though he couldn't access them. There was however, one file down there that was so heavily encrypted it was just asking to be broken into but the name confused him. It was simply labelled "Regrowth". Why would such a strange file have so many defences around it?

He took off his black leather jacket and threw it upon the console, stretched his fingers and set to work.

An alarm blared into life and The Doctor instinctively yelled "Oh be quiet!" He was in a foul mood. The horrific contraption he'd found had him worried, and he was even mad at himself for not being able to stay there and find out what it was. The truth was that it was wrong, just wrong. Not even Jack Harkness was that wrong and he was a frozen point in time.

Not only that, if it _was_ who he thought it was, he also knew how he worked. For was he only other friend and he always had been the most trusting. He might not need his usual tricks if he got to For first.

And then, of course, he had to go and draw attention to himself didn't he? The Doctor rushed to a nearby wall panel and soniced every corner of it, attempting to locate the cause of the alarm, but the second he started getting somewhere, the alarm cut off. "Argh, come on!"

When he looked again at the screen, he realized that he'd gotten close enough to the source to be able to detect life-signs on the Darlek sensors. He could see one lifesign in the darlek database, different from all the other's. Above and around this there were hundreds of identical lifesigns, sooping and swarming, all around another, third lifesign, that belonged to three beings. The Doctor knew enough, and was pelting down the corridor, back past the laboratory all the way to the lift, which he forced to move so much faster than usual.

For was literally trapped in the middle of a civil war, and if The Doctor didn't get there quickly enough, then when those hundreds of Darleks were finished with their three mutated targets, they would go after him. Brought out of the Time War so early on, with hardly any experience of fighting, especially not on a temporal level...

For didn't stand a chance.

* * *

><p>For could hear the cries of "Exterminate!" in varying ranges of pitch, accompanied by the constant firing of energy weapons, but he didn't stop digging into the file. He couldn't, this had to be about how Skaro had returned, it was his <em>duty<em> as a Time-Lord to figure it out, to tear open the file and absorb all its contents, and then reverse whatever it was to keep Gallifrey safe. To keep her safe.

So although he ducked and flinched at the explosions and twisted screams that sounded, he continued to work, now ducking under the desk-like panel to pull open the underside and beginning to rewire everything in sight. Every now and then he would pull himself out to check the screen and then he would sigh, duck at some kind of loud, disturbing noise and continue working.

Slowly but surely, the fighting began to die down, the screams and explosions dying down, to the point where he could even make out the humming of the Darlek hover-fields and the console under which he lay. Not long now.

He had just finished what he thought would crack it, only to be disappointed yet again and returned to his position where he was fiddling and tinkering, when the door opened. He attempted to show some of The Doctor's bravery, a trick that For had picked up after he'd seen The Doctor being severly reprimanded by the entire council for his little 'prank'.

"You kids finally finished playing lazers have you? I didn't think it would take you _that_ long, you must have really been enjoying yourselves." From uder the conosle he heard a deep warped voice, just like the one he'd heard on the walkway.

"You will come with us."

For didn't remove himself from under the console, pretending to still be wrieing, but actually uploading his entire experience since he'd left The Doctor to the computer. He just hoped that the stupid Darlek technology wouldn't corrupt too much of it. "Will I now?" he said, wracking his brains to try and find another way out of this, that didn't involve instant death or a _very_ long fall. "And why would that be?"

"You are an anomaly." For raised an eyebrow, laughing to himself.

"I think I've never been called that before." He finally pulled himself out from under the console and stood up to face his oppressors, two large red Darleks, and his blue friend, unable to come any closer because of their huge bulk. "Oh, no wait... yep I have. But why am I one today, might I ask?"

The blue Darlek seemed to pause before answering. "Do you not know what happened to the Time War? How The _Doctor_ won?" For shook his head, flinging his jacket back on. There really was _no _other way out of this.

"Nope, but I tell you what... I'll bet you're dying to tell me. Lead on!" He looked back to find his file appearing at the bottom of the conisderably long list and prayed to Rassilion that The Doctor would be able to find it.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was hurtling along yet another debris strewn corridor when the fighitng suddenly stopped. One force had pulled a retreat and he crossed his fingers that it was the larger of the two. Three Darleks, no matter how powerful, were always easier to fight than a hundred.<p>

He leapt over a collapsed beam and soniced open the door to his right, pelting through the door and carrying on to the end where he found yet another lift, which he soniced upwards. When those doors opened, he could see the record bank, easily identifyable by the large storage chips lined up across the room. There was no one in there.

"No," he muttered, running as fast as he could. "No, no no no no no no!" He skidded to a halt in the room, slightly relieved that there was no body here, but now apocalypticly worried about where For was being taken. Maybe _he_ really was back. Maybe.

He looked at the screen to find a file called "Regrowth" selected, and then saw the massive amounts of wires and cables that were tangled beneath the console. The Doctor shook his head. "Of course you went for the most obvious one." Just as he was about leave in search of For, he noticed there was another file, added _very _recently. Audio only but that was still something.

"_You will come with us."_

"_Will I now? And why would that be?"_

"_You are - anomaly."_

"_I - I've nev-r been calle- that be-o-e. No, wait... Y- I h-v-"_

There was silence on the recording and then The Dotcor just heard For's voice call, _"Lead on!"_

_Right_, The Doctor thought to himself, _I know two things. One, there is a file on here labelled "Rebirth" which has absolutely nothing in it._ He walked over to the console, finished hacking the file and proved himself right. _Okay, new thing. This was all set up to get For... but why? What would the Darleks want with a Time Lord? Which neatly leads onto the second thing... at least they aren't going to kill him._

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, shutting down the console with a flick of his screwdriver and strolling back out of the room. That was when he discovered something, a lingering psychic impulse that For must have left at the end of the file. It was a picture, an image of three Darleks, bigger than the usual kind and much, much stronger.

The future Darleks, from his time. The ones that escaped the Time War. They had so much fore-knowledge, it would explain why there were so many Darlek casings littering Skaro. they had detected the return of their homeworld and had come here expecting servitude. Instead they got a war, and now they wanted him to win it for them, and they were going to use his friend as bait to ensure that.

The Doctor set his screwdriver scanning for their enhanced power sources, and left the room, his face confident and his objective resolute.

Wait... I'm confused. I thought you said you'd obtained what had happened to For via his ring... and we just saw that. Isn't that what you found on the computer?

_No. I found an audio file on that computer, a corrupted audio file, of that singular meeting._

So you find out what really happened later?

_Spoilers. You can find out after you've slept. Honestly Alex, you're so tired you're almost putting me to sleep._

"Okay," I agreed with a yawn. "Tomorrow." As we left the room however, I had a feeling there was an entirely different reason why The Doctor wanted to stop for today. _He_ may be going to sleep, but I was going to do some searching. There must be some clue somewhere as to what happened between the two of them, to ensure that The Doctor would never mention his best friend again.

**A/N: How about that? :) A lot happening there but as you know, The Doctor finds it hard facing up to his past, so instead of just waiting around, I wanted there to be something to find out. Something to look for :) Please let me know if you liked it or what you think of it so far. It may take a while to upload the next chapter as I have homework to do... lot of it :S Hope you liked it :D Please Review! :)**


	7. An Unforgettable Moment

**A/N: Hello again! New chapter! I hope that it was worth the slightly longer than usual wait, kinda got distracted what with halloween and everything :D But anyway I hope you like this chapter and I know I ask eveytime but could you please review? I would love to know what all of you think :) Thanks again and Enjoy!**

The Endless War

Chapter Seven: An Unforgettable Moment

I lay in my room, staring at the ceiling from my cabin bed, listening to the hours pass. It was strange in the TARDIS, hours seemed to literally _pass _you by. If you focused hard enough you could almost feel time passing, as though it was air, gently over your skin. It somehow helped calm my nerves as I readied myself, thinking where I should look first.

But where _should_ I look first? There was the library, the squash courts, the Kareokee bar (although there were some rather worrying memories there of my own). That was when I realized there was only one real place that I could look. The Doctor's Room.

I let another long breath of time pass over me and then I swung my legs over the bed, dropped down to the floor, dressed and then crept over to my door. I knew he would know that I'd left my room, so I was going to at least tell him the first part of my plan.

I let the brown wooden door swing shut behind me and admired The Doctor's handiwork. He'd created this entire corridor (rooms as well) to look exactly like a luxury hotel from the beauty planet Slough. Apparently it meant Nature's Palace in their language. Apparently.

I walked down tthe corridor, past the large window that showed a vast expanse of beautiful fields and forests and out of a pair of sliding doors out into the real TARDIS corridor.

It was blank, if blank was the right word. The walls were bare and cold, with strange yellowish shapes littering them, but there was a feeling of potential about it, as though the TARDIS herself wanted every corridor to be like the one I'd just left. I stood in silence for a moment, listening intently and then I felt a smile spread across my face as I remembered what The Doctor had told me the first time I'd been the TARDIS.

He'd found me wandering around in the depths of the TARDIS, surrounded by what seemed to be dark patches in the wall that swirled and fluxtuated. I 'd been slowy reaching out, wanting to touch it just to see what it was when a voice had sounded behind me.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," The Doctor had said, leaning at the top of a short staircase before gripping the railing and leaping down. "Residual time energy. That stuff is from the end of the universe, or should I say it is what fills the end of the universe. Or is that negative time energy?" he muttered to himself. He suddenly snapped his attention back to me, his gaze drawing me away from the energy. "Either way I wouldn't touch that. It will either convert you into Artron Energy or force your body into abzolute zero... neither one is a healthy diet option."

"But why is it here?" I'd asked as we walked back up the stairs and back into the regular corridors.

"Oh when you exist throughout all time and space the energy you use has to go somewhere inside doesn't it? It's completely harmless as long as you don't touch it. It doesn't spread." He paused, thinking. "I really should put up some sort of sign." He smiled, but when I noticed his grin I also realized he was doing something rather strange, even for him.

"Doctor. Are you... walking with your eyes closed?" The Doctor's eyes snapped open and he shot me one of what would turn out to be many incredulous looks.

"Of course I am Alex, its the best way to get around! You simply imagine where you want to go and allow your mind to wander. Although, be careful. I once aimed for the library and ended up in the attic, and it takes a _very_ long time to manouver though all those boxes and things, _especially _when the door keeps moving. It has its days," he finished with a dark mutter.

I smiled again at the memory and finally opened my eyes to find myself back at the control room, my legs aching considerably. I was surprised when my eyes finally located The Doctor.

He was sitting in the chair just at the bottom of the set of stairs I was standing upon, and had his head in his hands. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at me and I had to stop myself from backing away from him. He just looked so _old._ And so tired.

"Can't sleep?" He shook his head wordlessly. "Neither can I." I started to decend the stairs, moving over to the console and twisting the only dials and levers that I'd figured out did something. I was attempting to get the scanner to work, I remembered The Doctor saying there was a brilliant cluster of stars that all began at exactly the same moment.

He stood up saying "No no no Alex! Do you want us to fall _into_ those stars?" I laughed and he brought the scanner around, undid all my hard work and then pulled one lever, played with the zig-zag plotter and twisted the dial on the scanner itself.

We stood there, silently watching as the dust and gas swirled together. "Why can't we watch it through the door?" I asked, my voice hardly coming out as more than a whisper. I never imagined I'd ever seen anything like this.

"Solar radiation," The Doctor muttered, his voice exactly the same as mine. "Can't guarantee you wouldn't feel some of it." I grinned to myself. He had been sailing through time and space for over nine-hundred years, and yet he still found it in himself to be amazed.

There was a brilliant flash of light, and for a moment I thought I would never get to see how fantastic the stars looked fullyformed, but then the light died down, until there were twelve individual pockets of light in the vast expanse of darkness. What had once been just dust and gas and empty space, all swirling in colour and matter was now strong and seemingly ever-lasting.

"I know what you're wondering Alex," The Doctor muttered, as he left the scanner to decend the other set of stair, now poking about beneath the console. "And the truth is, I don't want to tell you." There was silence as I heard twisting and turning and bangs accompanied by "ow!", until eventually The Doctor appeared back by the console, a strange blueish cube in his hand.

"What's that Doctor?" I'd sat down in the nearest chair, still gazing at the twelve brilliant stars but now I flicked the scanner off and asked for the strange cube. He handed it to me carefully.

"That is a psychic container," The Doctor said proudly. "It contains psychic energies, such as thoughts, feelings, all the good stuff." He took it back off of me and walked back up into the corridors, heading straight for the psychic interface.

He went in before I got there and when I entered I saw him throw the box in the air before catching it and laying it upon the ground in the corner. "You might want to hold on to something... this particular memory is quite the trip."

* * *

><p>I staggered out of the room, my eyes burning. The Doctor soon followed me and shut the door behind us as I rested upon the wall opposite, breathing heavily.<p>

"How...? Why?" The Doctor shook his head solemly.

"Because it was what needed to be done. That wasn't even it at its height... It got a whole lot worse." He stood silently watching as my eyes, wide with fear, horror and revulsion slowly returned to normal, although I couldn't quite look at him in the same way. "Maybe you should get some sleep now Alex. Don't worry, I can have the TARDIS attempt to block out what you just saw from your dreams-"

"No," I muttered, attempting a smile. "I'll be alright." He tried to smile back, but it only looked like what I imagined mine had. "One thing though Doctor? Why remove that memory? Why keep it locked up in that container?"

The Doctor seemed to wince, looking at me with those ancient eyes again. "Because it hurts." He seemed to appraise me for a moment before clapping me on the back. "Come on, off to bed. How you humans can find the time to do anything when you _sleep_ so much I'll never know."

I laughed, feeling if only a little bit better, even if it was just for the fact that at least now The Doctor had a friend who knew what had happened. "Enjoy your fiddling Doctor."

He sighed, frustrated as he always was when I called his beloved calibrations "fiddling". "Yeah, yeah. Sleep well human." I smiled as I turned away from him, hearing him throwing the screwdriver from hand to hand as he returned to the control room. At least I hadn't had to _steal_ the information from him and I was slightly appalled I would even have thought about it, but now that I knew, I had that age old feeling that really, I would have been better of not knowing at all.

**A/N: I'm so sorry for not telling you what it was! But it was kinda important that you don't find out till later :) So sorry but now you know that there is something there ;) Also just as a little note again, if you have not read "Chime in the Night" then you might want to as it is effectively the episode before this one :) Thanks again for reading and please please please review! :D**


	8. The Unfinished Business

**A/N: Sorry this to me sooooo long! School has been a nightmare! :( Anyway, this is the final chapter of this episode so I hope you really like it :) Don't worry there will be another, but not until after New Year's I'm afraid :( Please forgive? :( And please review because I would love to know how you feel about the entire thing! :D Sorry agian for how long it took me! :S**

The Endless War

Chapter Eight: The Unfinished Business

The Doctor was striding confidently down the corridor, his screwdriver held infront of him like a weapon as he stepped and crept around the freshly fallen debris, left over from the recent battle. He peered through the thick fog of dust, swirling before him in an unnatural breath of wind, making out numerous Darlek shaped rocks or energy weapon discharges that turned out only to be some loose wires or fallen ceiling.

After returning to his feet for the millionth time, while pushing his hair back and looking reprochfully at the sparking wire, The Doctor forced himself to draw a deep, calming breath and paused. "Wow," he muttered, smiling slightly. "I haven't needed one of those for a long time." _Since the war_, he reminded himself.

He started off again, the signitures from his screwdriver positively screaming for him to carry on forwards so he did, causously. He stopped scanning, afraid of the noise but held it by his side like the cattle owner he'd met in Arizona that one time. He smiled, remembering easier times.

Wasn't that the time you crashed into the man's cattle shed while attempting to recalibrate the TARDIS' engines?

_Possibly._

And didn't you accidentally create the first six members of the Memeta, those supremely intelligent cows-

_Bovines,_

- in the process and then didn't they decide to turn on the farm's owner who was intending to butcher them for the market?

_Yes , Yes and Yes! But I was able to sort it all out, buy the man a new shed and relocate the Memeta to a new planet full of lushous grass, great waterfalls and not a single fly in sight, so everyone was happy. Except me... I got a really nasty bump on the head and do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to find a planet with not a single fly or fly-like insect upon it? I think I did pretty good considering._

I guess. I just wish I'd been there to see it... Anyway, back to the considerably dangerous Darlek complex.

The Doctor flug himself around the next corner, his sonic raised, but he found nothing, except a door at the very far end of the corridor. He scanned the corridor quickly and found that the signatures he was looking for were behind that door, three Darlek, one Time-Lord.

The Doctor began to side-step his way cautiously along the wall, his eyes fixed upon the door as though attempting to burn a hole through the foreign metal. Half-way to the door and he felt a terrible shudder course through the core of his spine and he span around to see exactly was he didn't need to.

One old Darlek stood proud and confused at the mouth of the corridor, blocking his only exit. "You are a Time-Lord." The Doctor cast a glance at the door behind him, but there was no chance he was going to make it in time. He was just going to have to pray that the door blocked out sound.

He span around and looked the Darlek right in the eye, slowly approaching the tin figure. "Yes I am," he stated, willing his voice to ring strong and confident, but he knew that if he didn't get to For soon, there wouldn't be much of For left. Why else would they have gone into a dead-end room? "And you are?" A pointless question, but it would keep it talking.

"I am Darlek..." The Doctor internally rolled his eyes. The same lines, the same reasons and fights... for all of eternity. "Darlek Cril." Okay that was unexpected.

"Darlek Cril?" The Doctor questioned, his voice incredulous, his hearts thumping. "Did you just tell me your name?" The Darlek's eye-stalk moved up and down. A nod? His heartbeats quickened.

Darlek Cril glided forwards and spoke lower, as though whispering. "Are you with him?" The Doctor didn't answer, in-fact he had to stop himself from backing away. This was far too far out of character. The Darlek rephrased the question, the age-old anger in his voice allowing The Doctor at least something of its usual demeanour to cling on to. "Are you with the False's Advocate!"

"And what if I was?" The Doctor inquired, his mind racing as the Darlek backed away to the end of the corridor as though to take aim.

"Then I will exterminate you!" The Doctor stood, staring dumbfounded at the almost unbelieveable Darlek. He stood there, staring, gazing, until he heard to high whine of the energy weapon and he flung himself down the corridor, feeling the beam sweeping clewan through the metal that had been just behind his head. He pelted down the corridor, hearing another shot accompanied by a _frustrated_ cry and then nothing. He stopped running and looked around just in time to see the Darlek retreating around the corner.

"Argh! Just when you think you know a Darlek!" The Doctor cried and stormed, angrily into the room he'd been attempting to break into, but what he found there was nothing like what he'd been expecting.

This room was completely sterile, completely wasn't any hint that anything had been in here, there wasn't even a single spec of dust in it although, as The Doctor began pacing about the room, a truckload soon found itself upon the gleaming metal tiles. There was no chance that any Darlek had 'set foot' in here. "I can even see my reflection in these," he said to himself, and then frowned and rubbed his jaw and chin, as though they had caused him discomfort in someway. Then he managed to stop worrying about his face and brought his mind back to the very clean room.

The room was entirely bare, not a single thing in there except The Doctor, some dust and his trusty sonic but it all looked too new, as if it had just been slotted in there just five seconds ago. Even his sonic was beginning to seem newer compared to everything around him. The Doctor shivered and span around on the spot, staring at what had caused the involuntary reaction.

Behind him, where just a moment ago there had been nothing but dust and space, there now lay a small communicator that appeared to have been made from colinders, T.V ariels and bubble-gum. The Doctor approached it tentatively, crouching down to pick it up. This was going to be where they asked him to win their war for them. _Think Doctor!_ he roared to himself in his head. Two armies of Darleks, one of which was holding his friend hostage and the other of which seemed to be so unpredictable he didn't know whether they would shoot him dead or ask what his favourite song was. This was going to be difficult.

A small spark sprang from the small device and the screen flickered... and died. The Doctor shuddered again and found another communicator behind him, this one slightly better made. Slightly. The screen attempted life again and this time it made it, buzzing and whirring until a face twisted into view.

"Hello Doctor!" The Doctor beamed, his eyes lighting up at the face that greeted him.

"For! You're alright!" Then The Doctor looked closer, listened more attentively and realised that For wasn't right. "For?"

The man on the screen sighed, his eyes appearing to avoid The Doctor's stare. "Doctor... The Darleks-"

"I know. They've evolved, grown stronger but we can still do this For!" The Doctor said encouragingly. "How did you escape them and how did you know to send the communicator to this room?" Again For paused and sighed before stepping sideways, allowing the screen to show what was behind him.

"I didn't escape," he replied from off the screen as The Doctor took in the yellow, white and blue Darleks that stood watching in silence. "And I knew to send the communicator there because I lead you there." The Doctor suddenly realised and dropped the small piece of equipment, running to the only door with his screwdriver at the ready, scanning all the way around the frame. No effect.

"For what are you doing!" He cried as he kept trying again and again to sonic the door open, until just resorting to slamming his hand and shoulder against the door. "Do you know what this room is? What those tiles are!"

"I needed to know Doctor," For's voice crackled monotonicly through the speakers, while The Doctor continued to attempt to break through the door. "The Darleks told me something,"

_Bang!_

"something I didn't want to believe,"

_Bang!_

"but I have to know whether it's true."

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_ The Doctor sank sobbing to the floor, back agianst the frame of the door, his knees bent and his head buried into the solid steel.

"How did you win the Time-War?" The Doctor continued to sob into the cold steel. He knew what those tiles around him were, why the room looked like it had just been put there. It had... tiles infused with Artron energy, allowing the user to entirely manipulate whatever is held within them. Him.

For didn't let up, despite The Doctor's helplessness. "How did we win?" He didn't get a response, just muffled sobs. "How. Did. We. Win?" For voice hadn't changed from its flat tone, it hadn't even risen. The Doctor muttered a reply. "Pardon?"

"I had no choice," he moaned. He never acted like this, but he didn't care. There was no way out, and For would never believe why he'd had to do it. He would never think that his own race could ever become so warped, so hardened by war that it would have attempted the unthinkable, the End of Time. "Please For, let me explain-"

"There's nothing to explain. You betrayed us Doctor. Betrayed me... I'm sorry I have to do this, but you are no Time-Lord. With the Darleks help I'll pull our race out of the ashes and back to its full glory. I will bring her back."

The Doctor, still sat against the door, attempted to speak properly. "You know they will only use you... you cannot trust them."

"No," For replied, his voice _still_ unchanged from the disturbingly flat tone, "But thanks to you they are all I can trust. I, The For of Galifrey-"

"For don't do this!" The Doctor called, standing up again and glaring at the communicator.

"do hereby take upon myself the solemn duty,"

"For stop!" he cried in desperation, attacking the door again with his fist.

"in rightful place of the Grand High Councillor, of carrying out the laws of time and space."

"For please!" He stopped pounding the door, sliding down the frame again to kneel infront of it, his hands still upon the ice cool metal. For was starting the manipulation. he was alone, without help, without friends, being trialed and executed for a crime that he knew he couldn't run from forever. "I'm sorry."

"So am I Doctor," For said, clearing his throat of the tears. "So am I. The Doctor, you are hereby charged with the genecide of the Darlek race and the destruction of your own race, friends and family. How do you plead?"

"Guilty," The Doctor whispered, his fingers clenching into a tight ball, as he gave it up.

"Then I sentence you to erasure from time and space, and I pledge to undo the crimes that you have commited until my dying breath. Goodbye my friend. I wish there was another way, but you brought this upon yourself. You murdered us all."

The Doctor knew this was the end. His fixed point of death at Silencio Lake didn't matter is he was completely erased from time. Killed by his own friend, which was exactly what he had already done, to everyone he'd ever loved or cared for. The room around him began to shimmer and flicker and The Doctor closed his eyes. He didn't want to watch it happen, but atleast he knew it would be painless.

"I know... I know."

**A/N: What do you think? :D I really hope you liked it and please review! :) This will continue... I promise :) Eventually :S**

**P.S: In case you were wondering the next episode will be called "A War of Two Hearts." And I am sorry about the evil cliff hanger, but I thought, better I get the episode finished before leaving it alone for awhile :) A massive thanks to all my readers :)**

**The Horizon Series Will Return  
><strong>_**January 2012**_


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